Employer Profile

Author: Nikita S. Petrovskiy

Quicken Loans is rapidly becoming one of the nation’s largest mortgage providers and has played an integral part in boosting Detroit’s job market growth. Their company culture is truly one-of-a-kind, placing emphasis on interpersonal relationships and innovation at all levels. GTRI was able to secure a particularly informative Q & A session with one of the company’s brightest University Relations Managers, Jordan Truesdale. She gives valuable insight on the Quicken Loans hiring process and outlines personality traits that lead to success within this organization, so be sure to take note!

N: How long have you been working at Quicken Loans?

J: I’ve been working at Quicken Loans for just over two years. Before starting full-time I interned with the company, and after my first summer internship I went back to school as one of our first Campus Ambassadors in the fall of 2014. I helped pilot this program, which was an amazing experience and really speaks to the culture at Quicken Loans that encourages ideas and innovation from everyone, regardless of experience or tenure.

N: What do you think is the main quality/attribute that got you hired?

J: I believe that my curiosity and obsession with finding a better way were huge factors – these are qualities that are valued by Quicken Loans and ones that I’ve always identified myself with.

N: What is the biggest challenge your job entails?

J: My job has a lot of moving parts so organization and prioritization are key. Everyone has the same amount of time available during the day, so it really just comes down to how you prioritize your day and how efficiently you get the work done.

N: What are the main benefits of a Quicken Loans internship?

J: An internship at Quicken Loans provides you with empowerment first. My largest takeaway, and perhaps biggest surprise, from the program was that I was treated like every other team member. As a recruiting intern I went on all off-site career fairs and meetings, I screened candidates over the phone after training, and was expected to give the same amount of insight in team meetings as other team members. The internship truly prepares you for the position and provides you with other resources for professional development that you could use anywhere in the world. If I needed to brush up on Microsoft Excel, there was a class for that. If I wanted Emotional Intelligence or Public Speaking training, there was an option for that. I also had the opportunity to shadow any position within the company.

N: Does an internship with Quicken Loans increase the likelihood of gaining full-time QL employment in the future?

J: Successfully completing an internship at Quicken Loans significantly grows your chances of gaining full-time employment. The internship shows us how you work, think, and act in certain settings. We’re an insistently different organization – we don’t just look for skills, we look for a certain kind of person that fits our culture and will be a creative and collaborative team member. We don’t subscribe to corporate norms and we detest any sort of corporate bureaucracy that stifles innovation and that’s part of the reason interns are so valued at Quicken Loans – they’re opinions matter and their ideas can get implemented.

N: Please describe the most important qualities you look for in a QL candidate overall (personality, uniqueness, diversity, etc.).

J: Quicken Loans looks for creativity, curiosity and passion. We hire folks from a wide variety of backgrounds – we want diverse opinion and thoughts in our organization and we always look for people who are obsessed with finding a better way to do anything and everything.

N: Please describe the most important qualities you look for in a QL candidate specifically related to the 2017 Technology Internship.

J: We often refer to ourselves as a technology company that happens to do mortgages, so our IT team is extremely important at Quicken Loans. We look for students who have shown creative problem solving skills through projects that yielded innovative outcomes, whether that be within their studies or within their peer groups. We also want a candidate who works well with the existing team – our technology team operates much like a 1,500 person family and we’ve been named the #1 Place to Work in IT by Computerworld for the past four years.

N: If not selected for a QL position, how can candidates increase their competitiveness for a better chance next time around?

J: I didn’t get hired for an internship my first time around but I tried again (as a freshman) and I got it. I did more thorough research and formed a passionate story about my “WHY” as it pertained to Quicken Loans and my interest in the position – by connecting their story to my own. I also revised how I communicated my past experience on my resume and in conversation by explaining how my contribution impacted the business instead of simply listing my duties.

N: Is there any other information you would like to add regarding QL hiring initiatives?

J: We are simply looking for top talent who owns their opportunity and wants to make a difference within a quickly growing and ever-changing FinTech company.